The Implications of an Unresolved Debate

Having considered the merits of legalizing marijuana over the course of this entire blog, the time is now perhaps ripe in addressing the question of implications – what does the future hold if the marijuana question remains unresolved?

All things considered, it would seem that a failure to re-examine the laws governing the use of marijuana would result in the continuation of the current status quo. Marijuana would still continue to be outlawed, petty possession of marijuana would still account for the majority of marijuana arrests, state funding for marijuana enforcement would continue to incur high costs, and criminal smuggling of marijuana by foreign cartels would continue to exist. In essence, the contentious idea of “marijuana-as-vice” would continue to underpin a harsh but proportionately ineffective bureaucratic drug policy, a policy that would continue to preserve the country’s title of being the third largest consumer of marijuana in the world.

The fact is that a failure to change would not necessarily result in a degradation of the current status quo (though this possibility cannot be ruled out), but what is certain is that it would definitely not result in an improvement of the current situation. If the rejection of “marijuana-as-vice” is not the way forward, then an intermediate acceptance of “marijuana-as-vice” would have to do for the moment. What is nonetheless common, and necessary, in both cases is that they demand a re-examination of the law, either to halt the increased use of marijuana, or to reconfigure the extent of marijuana persecution. A failure to address this by the current administration would therefore be tantamount to turning a deliberate blind eye to the exigencies of the issue. My only fear is that if allowed to fester, the question of marijuana legalization might reach a deadlock where neither solution – criminalization or legalization – would serve as an attractive means to resolve what is undoubtedly a cause for social concern.